So, uhh sorry that it took me so long to write this, and that it's so short. To tell the truth, I've pretty much fallen out of the Voltron fandom, especially with the way canon's been going pretty much since season 1. Also, college is hard :P

Thank you so much to everyone who's stuck with me through this!

Keith poked his head onto the bridge. "Hey, Allura? My dad– uh, Thace wants to know if you're free in a few vargas. I think it was something about troop movements?"

"Oh, thank you for letting me know. Yes, I think…" Allura trailed off, pursing her lips. Keith waited for her to mentally sort through her schedule before she looked back at him, smiling. "Yes, I should be free then."

"Okay, thanks." Keith tapped a response into his comm, which Pidge had rigged up to sync with their Earth phones. From what he could tell, it was pretty much an extra-powerful smartphone, thanks to Pidge and Hunk. Smaller than a datapad with twice the power, Pidge had declared, and Keith had enough faith in her that he believed it.

Thace's response was near-instantaneous, unsurprising as he was only on the other side of the Castle. Perhaps it was a bit silly to comm him when he could've just walked over to speak in person, but the Castle was large enough that Keith felt it was worth it. Besides, he couldn't help the spark of joy he still felt every time he saw his father's contact come up onscreen, tangible proof that their family had reunited.

As Keith was leaving, Allura called for him to wait. "Hold on– Keith, you're going to be running that mission with one of the rebel squads today, right?"

Keith paused. "Yeah, I was going to meet up with them in the Dekmarian system."

Allura hummed. "Can you bring Coran with you, then? The Ellumin there are insisting on having the final negotiations planetside, and the Castle isn't due to pass through that sector anytime soon. The mission is only a few quintants, isn't it?"

"Supposed to be, yeah." Keith mentally checked with Red, who responded with warmth and acceptance at his request. "Should be fine. I'll drop him off before and pick him up after?"

"Yes, that would be ideal." Allura scrolled through some text on the screen in front of her, words flashing by almost too fast to comprehend. "Thank you, Keith."

"Not a problem," he replied, and backed out of the room.

Time was weird in space, but best Keith could figure, it had been maybe a month since the Voltron Alliance was formed. Keith split his time between his duties as a paladin and joint missions with his aunt and father, communicating via text when he couldn't meet them in person. Introducing his team to Thace had been nerve-wracking, but all things considered it had gone as well as it could have. At the very least, Thace and Coran had gotten along surprisingly well.

Or, perhaps that wasn't so surprising. They were similar in many ways, after all, even if their personalities appeared to be polar opposites. Whatever the reason, they'd become fast friends, though Keith was pretty sure they talked about him behind his back.

Striding down the halls, Keith's ear twitched at the sound of rapid footsteps coming down an adjacent corridor. He hadn't actually worn his human form in a while, now, and though it had felt a little strange at first, Keith now kept his true face at nearly all hours. The team had grown used to it, and Keith had to admit, seeing the double-takes of other aliens when he met them was hilarious.

"Hey, Samurai!" Lance grinned, knocking his shoulder against Keith's as they fell into step together. He was wearing his armor, helmet tucked under one arm and still-activated bayard in the other, and from that Keith figured he'd just come from the training deck. "Y'know, we haven't sparred in a while. We should get on the mats some time, just so you can see how fast I can wipe the floor with you."

Keith laughed. "You're delusional, Lance. You might be a better sniper, but your hand to hand is still weak. Remember that lieutenant the other day, the one–"

"With four legs? Oh, yeah." Lance rolled his eyes. "Come on, though, that wasn't–"

"It doesn't count if Hunk was already sitting on him."

"What?! That totally counts! Listen, what about Texxiol? Your ninja skills weren't so handy then, huh?"

Keith flushed. "That was different."

Lance snickered. "Takes one to know one."

Huffing, Keith subsided. There was no heat to their bickering, though, and they continued down the hall to the sound of Lance's casual chatter.

They came to the common room. The other paladins were already there– Shiro sat on one of the couches, watching what looked like training footage, while Pidge and Hunk had bits and pieces of a project spread out across the table. Keith thought he saw part of a robotic arm, something that might've been an engine, and a few tiny Balmeran crystals thrown into the mix. Holographic models hovered above the pieces, assembling and falling apart only to return in different combinations.

After exchanging greetings, Lance wandered over to inspect the nearest piece of crystal, which flared with a faint pulse of blue light at his touch. "Hey, there a reason you're working in here and not in an actual lab? Not that I'm really complaining, but you know Coran isn't going to be happy if he trips over something again."

Pidge didn't look up from her laptop. "The Wioleaps are borrowing the main lab, but I don't think any of them are really in a good headspace for outside company right now," she replied. "This was closer than going all the way to the hangars."

Lance winced. Rebel forces had liberated an Empire prison moon a few ship-days previous, and were still figuring out how to get most of the freed prisoners back to their homes. In the meantime, the Castle had more than enough room to house the ones whose home planets were on the way to their next stop. "They okay?"

"Yeah, they're fine. They know that Hunk and I are keeping an eye on them, and we just tested the security systems last week." She flapped a hand at a screen off to the side that showed the inside of the lab, a few Wioleaps moving around and glancing up every so often at the cameras. "They know to call us if they need anything, too."

"Good." Lance wandered over to the couch and flopped down, kicking up his feet on a clear spot of the table. "Hunk, my man, my dude–"

"Nope, still not going near that stuff with a ten foot pole," Hunk said, looking up with an amused slant to his lips. "You want to eat it, you can cook it."

Lance groaned. "Aw, please? Pretty pretty please with a cherry on top?"

A bit of wire sparked between Hunk's fingers, and he looped it around a metal tube. "The answer's still no."

"You have no sense of adventure." With a dramatic sigh, Lance pulled out his communicator to scroll through old messages. "Listen, that farmer's market was an experience. Don't we deserve to eat the fruits of our labors?"

"If they were fruits, maybe," Hunk laughed. "But I'm not even sure if what you brought back is fit for anyone's consumption. Maybe if you had a pet weblum…"

Lance turned to stare imploringly at Keith, who'd perched himself on the arm of the couch. "Keith. My buddy. My favorite person in the whole universe now that Hunk isn't being reasonable. Back me up on this: I definitely brought back some sort of fancy alien delicacy, right? Hunk's the ridiculous one who refuses to go near it?"

Keith's mouth twitched in the beginnings of a smile. "...Sure, I guess you can call it a delicacy. Not how I'd describe it, but sure."

"And our expert has spoken," Pidge muttered, just loud enough for Keith to hear. Shiro snorted a laugh.

"Fine, fine, I see how it is." Lance slumped sideways and kept going until he was sprawled lengthwise across the couch, the back of his hand pressed to his forehead. He was summarily ignored, though, and the four of them fell into an easy silence.

After a few minutes, the door slid open. "Keithek? You in here?"

Keith's head shot up, as did everyone else's. "Dad? Aunt Vasiva?"

Lance sat up, twisting around to face the door. "Whoa, hi! Thought you weren't coming for another couple vargas!"

"I got in early." Aunt Vasiva walked over and ruffled Keith's hair. "Rest of the squad says hi, by the way. Sekai also wants you to know that his latest partner thinks his scar is attractive, so thanks for that."

Thace rolled his eyes. "Keith nearly takes out his eye and he says thank you for the cool scar. Vasiva, your squad is ridiculous."

She laughed. "Of course, that's why they're with me."

Thace huffed a wry laugh. "Ridiculous," he repeated. He moved to stand next to Keith and put a hand on his shoulder, not for any purpose other than contact. Keith shamelessly leaned into his father's side, something in his mind humming with contentment.

"So," Thace began as Aunt Vasiva chatted with the others, "I was thinking, after your mission, we could head planetside, have a sort of bonding night. Allura tells me that we'll be arriving in a friendly system soon, and there's a restaurant that's supposed to be famous for its dekkrani steak."

Keith tried not to perk up too obviously. "Steak?"

"Your favorite." Thace's eyes crinkled up at the edges. "That's never changed."

Keith needed no other encouragement. "That would be great," he replied, and was rewarded with a pleased grin.

Keith grinned back. The room was filled with the happy chatter of his family, nearly everyone all in one place. Only Allura and Coran were missing, and even they remained in other parts of the Castle, a mere call away if he ever needed them.

Despite how there was still a war to be fought, still an Empire to topple… Keith found himself satisfied. His family was here. They were together, and Keith was never going to let that go.

Whatever the universe through at them, they could face as one.